Moisture-curable compositions are well known for their use as sealants. In the manufacture of Insulating Glass Units (IGU), for example, panels of glass are placed parallel to each other and sealed at their periphery such that the space between the panels, or the inner space, is completely enclosed. The inner space is typically filled with a gas or mixture of gases of low thermal conductivity.
Current room temperature curable (RTC) silicone sealant, while effective to some extent, still have only a limited ability to prevent the loss of low thermal conductivity gas, e.g., argon, from the inner space of an IGU. Over time, the gas will escape reducing the thermal insulation effectiveness of the IGU to the vanishing point.
A need therefore exists for an RTC composition of reduced gas permeability compared to that of known RTC compositions. When employed as the sealant for an IGU, an RTC composition of reduced gas permeability will retain the intra-panel insulating gas of an IGU for a longer period of time compared to that of a more permeable RTC composition and therefore will extend the insulating properties of the IGU over a longer period of time.